Labor Day gas prices near $4.15 as Middle East conflict and refinery strain keep supply tight

It’s never been more expensive in the U.S. to fill up the tank and take one last summer trip over the Labor Day weekend. The average price of regular gas was $4.14 a gallon heading into the holiday, nearly a dollar higher than last year and well above the Labor Day weekend record of $3.82 from 2012, according to AAA motor club. Nicole Collins planned to head from Philadelphia to South Carolina to visit friends, but she said her family has spent most of the summer close to home and not taking their typical weekend trips because driving has gotten so expensive. “Gas is pretty high right now. It doesn’t help that we also have a baby, so we also have to pay for that,” Collins said outside a gas station in Claymont, Delaware, where regular gas was $4.199 a gallon. Prices shot up after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February and have not settled down since. Crude oil traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz has plunged, and Iran has refused to reopen the waterway. “Everything points to the Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tom Seng, a professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University. Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered few specifics on when the nation’s drivers might see relief at the gas pump, acknowledging that prices are higher now than Labor Day 2025. “Yes, they’re higher today, but we’re doing everything we can to push them down,” Wright said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” The national average for regular gas prices is still well below the record of $5.02 a gallon set in June 2022. But diesel is a different story: It hit a national average of $5.85 a gallon Friday, a record. Trucks and other freight delivery systems use a lot of diesel, and that increased transportation cost is being passed on to consumers, whether at the grocery store or through package delivery services. “It doesn’t really seem like there’s an end to it,” Collins said. Gas prices typically drop as the summer driving season ends and refineries turn to making a cheaper winter blend. But Seng said there are other factors this year even beyond the volatile situation in the Middle East that make future prices unpredictable. U.S. refineries are working at 98% capacity, many in the unusually harsh Texas heat. If there are problems there or a hurricane knocks some systems offline, prices will struggle to drop. And it’s not just a Middle East problem. Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries are squeezing diesel supplies. Chinese refiners are seeing declining outputs as well, said Matthew Metzgar, a clinical professor of economics at UNC Charlotte. “There’s just less gasoline coming out of those refineries,” Metzgar said. Wright, the energy secretary, said the Trump administration was taking steps to increase production and that the markets forecast lower prices in the coming months. “If you look at the futures prices, if you wanted to buy today in bulk gasoline for two months out in November, it’s about $0.35 cheaper than it is today. So the marketplace thinks gasoline prices are going to move meaningfully lower,” he said. Geopolitically, though, there is little a driver can do to knock down gas prices. But using price apps can help save a little money, especially on long trips where gas by the interstate could be 10 to 15 cents per gallon more expensive than at stations a short drive down the road, Metzgar said. —Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press Associated Press videojournalist Mingson Lau and reporter Gary Fields contributed.

Labor Day Gas Prices Have Never Been Higher American travelers are facing record-high gasoline prices this Labor Day weekend as conflict in the Middle East and disruptions to global fuel supplies keep prices elevated. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at about $4.15 on Sept. 5, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). That is nearly $1 higher than a year ago. This year's Labor Day is now the first in history with a national average above $4 per gallon. The previous Labor Day record was $3.82 per gallon, set on Sept. 3, 2012. Gas prices are displayed at a gas station in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on Sept. 4, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images As Bill Pan reports for The Epoch Times, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said he expects the national average to be about $4.03 on Labor Day, well above the previous record. "Gasoline, while not at all-time records, is at its highest level ever recorded this late in the calendar year," De Haan said. Prices vary widely across the country. AAA said California has the nation's highest average on Sept. 5 at $5.83 per gallon, followed by Washington at $5.50 and Hawaii at $5.40. Oregon, Alaska, and Nevada are all near or above $4.90. At the other end, Indiana has the lowest average at $3.43, followed by Texas at $3.67. Oklahoma and Mississippi are just above $3.70. Air Travel Also Costs More Drivers are not the only travelers facing elevated costs. AAA booking data show that domestic round-trip airfare for Labor Day is averaging about $750, up by 2 percent from last year. Travelers flying to the most popular domestic destinations face a much larger increase. Those fares are nearly 20 percent higher than a year ago, averaging close to $800 for a round trip. However, international travelers are seeing some relief. Average international airfare is down by 4 percent from a year ago, according to AAA. Oil, Fuel Supplies Under Pressure Gasoline demand typically begins to decline near the end of summer as vacations end and schools reopen, putting downward pressure on prices. However, this year, high crude oil costs have outweighed the seasonal drop in demand. Oil prices moved back above $90 per barrel this week, after renewed exchange of fire between the United States and Iran raised concerns about supplies moving through the Middle East. The wartime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes, have been a major source of uncertainty. Oil traffic through the waterway has improved from earlier disruptions. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said 17 million barrels of crude passed through the strait on Aug. 31, the highest daily volume since shipments were disrupted by the war. But continued fighting and threats to commercial shipping have kept energy markets on edge. Another source of pressure has come from Russia, where Ukrainian drones target oil refineries deep inside Russian territory. Those strikes have tightened supplies of refined products such as gasoline and diesel. "While some oil shipments are apparently getting through the Strait of Hormuz, the dominant force propping up both gasoline and diesel prices is increasingly the growing loss of Russian refinery capacity," De Haan said. "Until that refining supply picture improves, both gasoline and diesel prices face continued upward pressure." Measures to Boost Supply For the week that ended on Aug. 28, American refineries were running at 98 percent of capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration. That was the highest utilization rate since August 2018. The federal government has also taken steps to make it easier to move fuel around the country. President Donald Trump extended a waiver of the Jones Act for another 90 days, through Nov. 15. The waiver allows some foreign-flagged vessels to carry fuel and other covered cargo between U.S. ports when qualified American ships are unavailable. The Environmental Protection Agency has also relaxed seasonal fuel rules. An emergency waiver effectively ended summer-blend gasoline requirements early, beginning on Sept. 1, allowing more gasoline to enter the market. Gasoline supplies remain tight. U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 1.2 million barrels last week to 205.7 million barrels. That was about 6 percent below the five-year seasonal average. Tyler Durden Mon, 09/07/2026 - 06:45